Bracelet of the Day: Chandra Bracelet

Please excuse the poor quality of the photos in today's post. I had to take them in poor light in a rush because I needed to mail this bracelet to Teejay. I found this free pattern on Pinterest recently and it's surprising that I'd never seen it before since the designer posted it on her Les perles de VinJulEve blog way back in 2013. What caught my eye was that it calls for Rulla beads and there are very few patterns that I really like for Rullas. I have several colors of them in my bead stash but haven't used them much. The pattern is in French but it's easy to follow the diagrams.

I love the colors that she used in her bracelet but I had to come up with some color combinations using beads that I have on hand. Because I used Chinese bicones, instead of Swarovski, I had to make some adjustments to the pattern to make everything fit nicely. When I used 3mm and 4mm bicones as directed by the pattern, my sample came out warped and wonky because the bicones were too large as you can see in the top sample below.

I ended up keeping the 4mm bicones on the interior of the bracelet but replaced the 3mm bicones on the edges with seed beads and changed the 4mm bicones on the outer edge to 3mm bicones. They fit much better. I also decided to eliminate the three seed beads at the top and bottom of the SuperDuo "diamonds". They weren't sitting neatly and I decided that I liked the bracelet better without them. Since the outer holes of the SuperDuo beads aren't left empty without them, those extra beads aren't really necessary.

In place of the 3mm bicones that she used on either side of the Rulla beads, I used a combination of a 15/0 seed bead and an 11/0 seed bead. I placed the 11/0 beads on the side nearest to the SuperDuos and the 15/0 beads near the 4mm bicones and alternated them as necessary.

I don't know why but she starts the tutorial by having you string the base beads for the whole length of the bracelet without any means of securing them on the end. In the second diagram she does show to add a clasp loop, which would serve that purpose. So, I made my loop first and then started adding the base beads from there. As I typically do, I changed the way that the loop is made. I used three 11/0 seed beads on either side of an 8/0 seed bead so that I could attach a jump ring for my clasp.

You can download the free "Chandra Bracelet" PDF file HERE.

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
• Rulla beads "Aquamarine Dark Travertin"
• SuperDuo beads "Aquamarine Dark Travertin"
• 3mm bicones "Light Topaz AB" (from China)
• 4mm bicones "Light Colorado AB - #C26AB" (Beads One)

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• Rulla beads "Chalk Green Luster"
• SuperDuo beads "Chalk Green Luster" (the lighter color on the right)
• SuperDuo beads "Stone Green Luster" (the darker color on the left)
• 3mm bicones "Green AB" (from China)
• 4mm bicones "#C51" (Beads One)

I prefer the darker green SuperDuos in this sample. I think that the lighter ones stand out too much.

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457D)
• Rulla beads "Opaque Gold Smoky Topaz Luster"
• SuperDuo beads "Opaque Gold Smoky Topaz Luster"
• SuperDuo beads "Crystal Gold Luster"
• 3mm bicones "Silk AB" (from China)
• 4mm bicones "Champagne Silver AB" (from China)

I love the overall color of the above sample but I don't think there's enough contrast between the color of the bicones and the Rullas that are next to each other.

• 15/0 seed beads "Copper" (457A)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Chocolate" (461)
• Rulla beads "Chocolate Bronze"
• SuperDuo beads "Jet Copper"
• 3mm bicones "Dark Rose" (Chinavoski)
• 4mm bicones "Rose Topaz AB" (Chinavoski)

The above sample is my favorite and I'll make a bracelet for myself in this color.